Author: Kristi Tuck Austin

The Art Of Fucking Up by Keith Good

A mountain of silk squished Ray Westwood’s mother on his first day of high school. Now, nearing 30, he’s a drunken master in the ancient art of fucking up. He let a syrup truck hit his dog. He abandoned the love of his life. He hasn’t spoken to his father in sixteen years and he’s never—not even once—visited his mother’s grave.

He would have died, except he fucked that up, too.

When a birth certificate typo gives Ray an extra month in his 20’s, he decides to turn a new leaf and make himself worthy of his mom’s trust money. He races between the “Four Fremonts”—California, Ohio, North Carolina and New Hampshire—desperate to un-fuck his life before hitting the big 3-0. A funny thing, though, our past. No matter how fast we run, we arrive to find it armed and waiting. A jilted drug dealer, the self-proclaimed king of Greece, his real estate agent/girlfriend/bounty hunter, an entire traveling circus…it seems everyone wants to keep Ray from his future.

Can Ray truly outrun his past? Can he fix his mistakes and earn his dead mother’s Million? …Does he really want to?

THE ART OF FUCKING UP is CANDIDE on crack; a “midwestern ope”-flavored Hiaasen misadventure complete at 93,000 words.

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A Dream Bewitched By Catherine Oyiliagu

Yewa, the Princess of Gao, is accidentally exposed to a strange light from a talisman. She soon starts having recurring, lucid dreams, but doesn’t think much of it. They’re just dreams, right? Fun dreams at that. She gets to meet a handsome stranger, fall in love, and even get married without any consequence to herself or her kingdom. Or so she thinks. Then she finds out that her “husband’ is the enemy prince, Ishaq, of the neighbouring Kingdom of Mali. When next she falls asleep (she actually faints), she’s ensnared by the dream and can no longer awaken. 

Meanwhile, Prince Ishaq, who was compelled to invade the Kingdom of Gao by his father, the emperor, is also ensnared by the dream. He too falls into a deep sleep. A spell has been cast on both the prince and princess, and their kingdoms are at stake. 

Lovers in the dreamworld, at war in the real world. Will their love survive when the spell is broken, or will they forever remain trapped inside a dream?

Set in 13th century West Africa, in the era of kings, queens and empires, “A Dream Bewitched” is an adult fantasy romance inspired by the classic tale of “Sleeping beauty”, where the dream itself is the villain. Complete at 77,000 words, it’s told from the perspective of three characters. It’s a finalist in ECW’s Best New Speculative Novel Contest, with the title of “A Prince’s Duty”.

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Chroma by Camille Thomas

Yara, a young black woman, is focused on surviving in her neighborhood of collapsed bridges, singed ground and crowded government food pantries, in a former suburb of a major city. Although dedicated to supporting her family, Yara keeps her true feelings and ancestral aches close.

Soon after turning nineteen, Yara finds out she won the annual lottery for NASA’s public program to work on America’s colony on Mars. She uses smithing, among other talents handed down over generations, as one of the first trainees in a new program to restore e-waste. After starting the program, she is separated from the other space cadets when she shows signs of a mysterious condition.

Upon rejoining the group for launch, she meets latecomer Marc, who helps Yara discover how to use the ethereal plane of the galaxy to transform her curse into a gift. She explores the glass domes, high speed motorbikes and flourishing neon backdrop of Chroma, the city where NASA’s Mars headquarters is located. Just as Yara begins to find there is more to egalitarian politics in Chroma than it seems, someone reveals her condition to powerful space barons, captains of the private sector.

Chroma is an afrofuturist novel following the legacy of Octavia Butler’ Parable of the Sower, Rivers Solomon’s The Deep, and Nicky Draden’s The Prey of Gods that warn of bringing the underbelly of the present into the future. Chroma continues this theme and imagines the intersection of technology, magical girls, urban biospheres and transmuting racialized generational trauma.

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Wild Life by Melanie Bosley

Morgan Clearwater is a new veterinarian at the Millview Zoo. Finally, she has graduated from concession stand duty to doing what she loves—working with animals. Before she’s permanently hired, she must prove she has what it takes to care for animals during a three-month trial run. She’s prepared for it, but her anxiety disorder makes even the simplest of tasks feel monumental.

Josh Ryan has been Morgan’s best friend for the twelve years they’ve worked together at the zoo, harboring a secret crush on her the entire time. He just accepted a promotion in Loss Prevention at the zoo, defying his dad’s wishes to join the family business. Josh has decided to be in control of his own life for once, which includes admitting his feelings to Morgan.

Instead of sharing she feels the same, Morgan panics and retreats into an empty zoo, leaving Josh alone in the parking lot. While she calms herself, a thunderstorm erupts, destroys her only way out, and lets a panther free from her exhibit. If Morgan had confessed to Josh that she loved him back, she wouldn’t be prey for the dangerous animal.

Alone and injured, Morgan must earn the trust of the animals trapped with her or risk losing her only chance at keeping her dream job—and life.

WILD LIFE is dual POV mainstream fiction with strong romantic elements complete at 70,000 words. It appeals to fans of MAN VS. WILD and TURTLES ALL THE WAY DOWN.

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My Colonizer: A Kept Boy and his Afterlife by Dale Corvino

I spent my twenties as the “kept boy” of a wealthy British decorator of a certain renown. He dressed me in custom suits, took me to the finest restaurants, and flew me on the Concorde. Upon his death from alcoholism, his secrets were laid bare and I had to figure out how to free myself of the relationship’s enduring harms.

My Colonizer, a voice-driven memoir of 75,000 words, offers an unsparing picture— from the high living to the soft oppression—and examines an afterlife of reckonings. The first section’s misadventures begin in 80’s New York City, ricocheting between aspirational uptown and anarchic downtown, while the second section departs from my excavations of work, desire, and sex in the digital era. 

The process of shedding that handed-down “kept boy” label includes recovery—years of drinking with the decorator had fueled my own addiction—a late-in-life stint in sex work, and a culminating reunion with the prime instigator of this story during one of the world’s largest populist uprisings.

The memoir threads these themes in a form early readers have said is “emotionally resonant” and “scans like a movie.” If offered a nuanced examination of queer legacies—beauty and passion along with trauma and harm—while subverting expectations of sex work narratives.

For a generation that grasps wistfully at the promise of finding a sugar daddy, My Colonizer is a how-to wrapped in a New York adventure.

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Through the Bubble – Lili’s Adventures in Scientologyland by Lili Ryder 

Lili’s rejection of the advice to curb her wild dreams and impulsive decisions aimed her at a life allergic to boredom. After high school, her comfortable commune life evaporated the day she came home with a puppy. No dogs were allowed. Eviction followed.

At her crappy new rental, the roommates served up a soul-sucking soup of silence and judgy looks. After a few months spent flirting with apathy, Hell looked like an improvement.

Lili enrolled in the Communication Course at the local Scientology Center on the advice of a family friend. She was assured it would help her become a “more able” and happier person. And bonus points, she’d find a better brand of friends. 

This shiny new organization offered a straightjacket of rules, demands for promptness, and adherence to their sacrosanct schedule. Thrift-store shopper, hippie chick, commune-loving Lili, dove into the eyeballs-to-eyeballs communication drills and regimented routine with cheer-leader enthusiasm. Love-bombed for her new ‘confront’ skills, Lili leaned into the “Production is the basis of morale” mindset of her fellow spiritual happiness seekers.

Yay, Lili rediscovered her inner backbone, started her entrepreneurial journey, and got too busy to be depressed. Not so yay, she ascribed her life improvements to charismatic leader L Ron Hubbard and his pithy bits of wisdom.

Lili followed L Ron Hubbard’s twisted mindset into a transactional universe, where you’re only as valuable as your last donation.

 I was a Scientologist for over thirty years. They’d call me a bitter apostate. I prefer snarky escapee.

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The Scholarly Banana by Karly West

I’m Karly, and I use handmade miniature figurines and sets to illustrate my graphic novel series, The Scholarly Banana!

The Scholarly Banana retells old, gruesome fairy tales and tricks you into learning fun facts about them. Think dark fairy tales meets Cliffs-Notes meets Adult Swim claymation…meets a Banana! He’s a Scholarly Banana, though. You can tell by his glasses.

The Backstory:

Several years ago, I realized there were no new takes on fairy tales for teens and general audiences. I was looking for something that covered the traditional, uncensored fairy tales but in a more playful, easy-to-read format with attention-grabbing artwork. After years of searching, I realized that I was the perfect person to bring the concept to life! 

The Scholarly Banana takes old, creepy fairy tales and collegiate-level research and presents them in an irreverently wacky and artistic way. Typically, fairy tale books are either research-forward for adults or simple entertainment for children. I designed The Scholarly Banana to be the best of both worlds and introduce fun-loving, general audiences to the magical world of folklore studies!

There are currently three books in the series (I independently released Little Red Riding Hood in early February!), and I’m currently working on the fourth book about the history of Rapunzel. You can check out The Scholarly Banana’s unique art style and read sample pages at http://thescholarlybanana.com.

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Ruby Madder’s Field Guide To Poisonous Plants by Michelle Heimburger

Two years ago her life was millionaires’ pool parties and posh private school. Now 15-year-old Ruby Bartek spends her free time helping with her divorced mom’s gardening business and updating her website, Ruby Madder’s Field Guide to Poisonous Plants, instead of having a social life. But her ticket back into her old world — a scholarship to the exclusive Sloane Academy — only makes things worse. Her classmates know all about the scandal that fractured Ruby’s family and uprooted them to the poor side of town. And Addie, Ruby’s former best friend, hasn’t just moved on: She’s skyrocketed up the social ladder with her new BFF, Sloane queen bee Taylor Hampton.

When Taylor is poisoned shortly after a very public argument with Ruby, rumors spread like dandelions in a suburban lawn. Ruby’s fascination with deadly toxins would be bad enough on its own, but her family’s history with the Hamptons — who had more than a little to do with the Barteks’ fall from grace — makes Ruby and her mom prime suspects. To clear her family and save any chance of ever putting down roots at Sloane, Ruby must find out what plant poisoned Taylor, and who — other than the Barteks — would have the knowledge and motive to use it.

RUBY MADDER’S FIELD GUIDE TO POISONOUS PLANTS, a 78,000-word contemporary YA mystery, is Veronica Mars meets Flavia de Luce in a wealthy Columbus, Ohio, suburb where toxic secrets lurk in impeccably landscaped yards and the most beautiful blooms hide the deadliest poisons.

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